


your bed feels better when we’re a mess.

by Sagamohr



Series: i've got a bad feeling about this. [3]
Category: Monster Hunter (Video Games), Monster Hunter: World - Fandom
Genre: (apparenty im bad at writing fluff.), Camping, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, Holding Hands, Night Terrors, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sharing a Bed, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:02:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22329787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sagamohr/pseuds/Sagamohr
Summary: After beheading and bringing back the corpse particularly vicious Tobi-Kadachi, Valentyne and Luca decide to take a break from Astera. They pack up some materials and a tent, and journey three days just beyond the Wildspire Waste.Val realizes once they set up camp the first night, that she forgot her sleeping cot in Astera. Luca, no longer under the watchful eye of his Grandfather, doesn't seem to mind.
Relationships: Field Team Leader (Monster Hunter)/Original Female Character(s), Original Female Character(s) & Original Male Character(s)
Series: i've got a bad feeling about this. [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600714
Comments: 17
Kudos: 20





	1. i/ii

**Author's Note:**

> What can I say? I'm a sucker for these two. I adore Astera and have been playing in pockets whenever I can, so of course, I was extremely eager to return to my written Astera Universe!
> 
> As promised, here's a soft, and fluffy piece to follow the angst I've been dishing out. Enjoy.
> 
> Also, thank you AngelsAvengeMe for Wren, even though he's not mentioned much this time around. Next time ;)

Valentyne dropped the bulk of the Tobi-Kadachi hide outside of the Smithy, bruised and tired and bloody. 

_Why had she agreed to take it on?_

It had been some time since the Anjanath incident, and with Wren was still out of commission with his broken ribs Val had been hesitant to do anything with an aggressive monster. The Hunter wanted to take on the New World with her cousin at her side, not alone, facing down monsters that still haunted her. So whenever she could, she took on passive herds, culling numbers whenever possible, or helping Brona with collecting provisions around the Ancient Forest. Unfortunately, her avoidance was duly noted, and there had been a monster beginning to cause trouble for the research committee roughly about a month after the near-death task with the Anjanath. 

At first, Val had declined the job, begging to shrug it off into another pair of Hunters. 

She knew she couldn’t take on a _goddamn_ Tobi-Kadachi on her own, not right now.

When the council had been called together the morning before, and the job had been explained, Val froze up. The idea of taking on a monster like this one without Wren honestly terrified her, and she would be the first to admit it. Without her cousin around her, she was weak. As the Commander dismissed the council and made to retire to his quarters for the night, Val followed after him, touching his arm, flanked by Eden and Ransom. 

“Commander, I can’t.” She confessed, eyes bright with a choking fear. “I can’t take this on without Wren, you’ll have to give the job to someone else.” 

The Commander, arms looped over his chest, looking down his nose at the white-haired Hunter, and sighed. Val knew that he was disappointed in her, but she had nothing to lose by being honest, not after nearly dying. Besides, the Commander had been at her bedside a few times when she woke up from fever dreams brought on by the poison. He cleared his throat. “Sometimes, solo hunts are going to happen.” He told her, raising an eyebrow. 

“You can’t rely on your cousin for back-up all of the time, especially when he’s still recovering.”

“Then give the job to someone else!” Valentyne stopped, realizing with a jolt that she absolutely couldn’t take that sort of tone on with her Commander, let alone her boyfriend’s _grandfather_. She cleared her throat and willed herself to speak more rationally. “I can’t take a Tobi-Kadachi on alone, Commander. I’m not skilled enough.”

“I’ll go.” Luca had said, and Val gaped at him, surprised that he as Field Leader, was volunteering to take this monster on with her like a measly Hunter. “If this is the same monster I tried to take down with Easton a few weeks prior, then she’ll need a partner, and one with more experience.” He looked at her, slightly apologetic. 

Val didn’t care: he was right and he should say it. She wasn’t as experienced as the Commander thought she was, and it was unfair to shrug other, more experienced Hunters off for her sake. Luca walked over to her side and touched the back of her elbow, looking back at his grandfather.

Between the two generations, it quickly became a standoff.

“Fine.” The Commander grunted a few minutes later, looking between Luca and Valentyne with a hard smile on his face. To Luca, it was a win, but Val knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. “I want this beast _gone_ , dead, and I don’t want to go in there and fish either of you two out, got it?” He pointed at Luca.

“Mrrow!” Ransom meowed, agreeing to the Commander. Eden nodded, silent. 

The Commander fixed his gaze onto his grandson. “I mean it. You won’t have any back-up, this monster should be a breeze for you, and she can learn some pointers from a retired Hunter like yourself.” With that the Commander turned on his heel and marched down the stairs, disappearing under the floorboards of the Tradeyard to his private quarters. Ransom and Eden walked out as well, with the Handler animatedly going on about a new meat platter the Canteen was brewing up.

Val turned to Luca once they were alone, gently cupping his face. “You didn’t have to do that,” She told him, kissing his cheek, adoration apparent in her eyes. “I appreciate this, I do, but you didn’t have to stand up for me like that.”

Luca nodded, leaning down to rest his forehead against hers. “I didn’t, but I wanted to, and I wasn’t going to let the old man bully you into doing something you weren’t comfortable doing.” He paused, turning to kiss Val’s right palm, urged by the fact that they were standing alone in the council room. The female Hunter had come to learn that he liked to act like he was a rule-breaker when there was no one else around, the thrill of being alone with the woman he loved reason enough to act like a new pledged A-Lister. “That’ll be your first big task since the Anjanath, and I want to make sure you’re okay.” 

Valentyne found it completely adorable how worried he happened to be over her.

Funnily enough, the following day after tracking the Tobi-Kadachi miles upon miles into its nest, Valentyne was suddenly convinced that this would have been an easy task for her to take on solo. Maybe it was the warm sun filtering through the canopy, or maybe it was the delicious honey and bitter-bug sandwich they had eaten a few hours prior to cornering the Monster. Whatever it was, Val was filled with a sense of “ _I can do this, and I can do this alone_.” 

Of course, Luca had backed off for most of the fight instinctively, shouting out pointers and corralling the Monster back into the fight zone for Val to finish off. Just like in training, Luca watched his girlfriend carefully, making mental notes on zones she was offering weaknesses in. Regardless of that, it was nice to have him in her corner, a different type of support than whenever she hunted with Wren. The monster was on the smaller size, the runt of the litter, but it was just as powerful if not more so. 

Between her, Ransom and Luca, the monster fell just before sunset.

It’s dying cries had attracted once again a pack of Jagras, the lurking little fucks.

Luca quickly disposed of them, but the return of the Jagras had definitely triggered something in the back of Val’s mind, and her once happy disposition turned sour and quiet.

The sun had set and the moon was hanging high in the sky once Valentyne and Luca returned to camp. Ransom was draped across Luca’s shoulders as Val lugged the bounty in and onto the hard wood floor of the Tradeyard. She limped to the Smithy and dropped the bag there, swiping the back of her hand across her forehead. Looking up into the dark night sky, Val sighed to herself. It was far too late to visit Wren, and she needed a long soak in the warm baths below.

“That… was exhilarating,” Luca said, clapping a hand onto Val’s shoulder, disturbing her from her mental checklist. “I haven’t been on a hunt that got my blood roaring like that in a long time.”

She smiled, tense and sore. “You should have taken on the Anjanath with us before, then.”

Luca chuckled, but the warmth in his touch seemed to fade a little. “Do you want some help with the pack?” He motioned to the firmly stuffed full sack of hide and flesh Val lugged. She shook her head, smiled at Luca, and motioned for him to come closer. With one hand still wet with monster blood, she smeared it across his face, making his jerk back with a laugh. She stared at him, the aches in her body dying quickly when Luca fixed her with a look that clearly told her to run.

So run she did, straight down the wooden stairs and into the warm open-air baths they kept running.

* * *

Val winced, rolling her shoulders as she stepped out of the warm bath and into the remarkably cooler air of Astera. A couple of hours had passed, and both Hunter and Field Leader spent the intimate moments soaking in separate baths. Luca had chased her right into the baths, catching her only to help her pluck armour off of one another, and the two of them shed their dirty, bloody armour down to their underwear. 

It was still considered rude to bath without them on, and in the presence of her boyfriend, Val still held onto ‘old traditions’ from the Old World.

“Tomorrow is a rest day,” Luca said as he came up behind her, draping a thick, almost plushy towel over her shoulders. He wrapped an arm around her hips and Val leaned into him, smiling gently as he pressed a kiss to her temple. “You will sleep, and sleep in, and not be roused until I send for you.” He spoke quietly along the shell of her ear, gently turning Val so he could look into her eyes, the mismatched white-and-green catching the milky moonlight. “If I hear from anyone that you’re up before sunrise yet again, I will tie you to the bed myself.”

Valentyne’s eyes sparkled and she giggled, a flush covering her face. “You wouldn’t tie me down.”

“Don’t rest, and I’ll be forced to.”

“Maybe I want to rest, bound to the bed with you at my side,” Val half-purred, dragging her fingertips up along Luca’s chest, lowering her gaze to the necklace he wore proudly, a token she had made for him the weekend after they announce their courtship. “Or on top of me.”

Luca made a sound in the back of his throat, one Val felt like she was relatively familiar with. “You know we can’t,” He told her, voice faintly scratchy as his fingers dug into her hips. “I would love to, more than anything I’d love to have you in bed with me…”

“But for the sake of your grandfather, we can’t.” The white-haired hunter finishes, giving Luca a sad smile. “It won’t stop me from dreaming about it.”

The Field Leader laughed, the sound soft in the chilly, quiet night air. “It won’t stop me, either.”

Val leaned up, catching his mouth with hers. It was a delicate dance between desperate and passionate, with Val looping her arms along his neck as he yanked her in closer. It was rare that they got a chance to fall into one another like this, not with the hubbub of Astea usually calling one or both of them away from each other. The Hunter moaned softly, hands cupping the side of his face, keeping him close as they both panted. It was Luca who pulled away first, clearly not wanting to. He pressed his forehead against hers once more and huffed a sigh, his tight grip loosening steadily. “We should go to our rooms.” His voice had gone back to that scratchy, hoarse tone. “It’s late.”

“I know.” Val murmured. She stepped out of his loose grip and tightened the towel around her, nudging her bloody armour with her toe. “I’ll find these clean in the Smithy in the evening, right?”

Luca nodded. Val smiled tightly and realized with a start that he was waiting for her to go ahead of him. Was he dismissing her?

Licking over her bottom lip, she tugged the towel in as close as she could and walked the length of space between her, Luca and the stairs, taking them gracefully up the main floor where her room was. She didn’t look back to see if he followed her or not. She clasped her fur door over and stepped back into the dark hut-like room. The milky moonlight shone in through the window bent from the straw and dried out ferns, casting the room in a silver lining. Val dropped the towel and used it instead to dry her still dripping hair, wincing when it came away stained pink from the blood caught in her hair.

Once again she found herself thinking of Luca, thinking of the way he had gone cold. What had she done? Did she say something wrong? Had she kissed him wrong, did blood get into his mouth… what happened? She had tugged on her nightgown, thin and easy to move in, and had moved to unmake her bed. Ransom must have been bunking with Eden, or Wren, because he wasn’t here, his soft snores filling the silence Valentyne had found herself lost in.

Not for long, apparently.

The fur at her door wiggled and was pulled aside, a dark shape entering her room. Val turned, snatching the small pocket-like blade up from her side table. “Easy, Valentyne.” Came Luca’s soft whisper. 

Her heart tightened in her chest, and she put the blade back down. “Luca?”

“Hi.” He murmured, tucking the fur over her door once again. “Can I spend the night?”

She hesitated, not because she didn’t want him to, but because she didn’t know where he’d sleep. “I don’t have a cot,” Val blurted.

Luca crossed the space between them, taking her hand in his, gently interlacing their fingers together. “Your bed is big enough for both of us.” Lifting the back of her hand to his mouth he kissed her skin there, his breath tickling her skin. “Unless you’d rather I sleep on the floor.” They had slept together platonically many times, before they started courting, after announcing their courtship… but it was looked at differently now that they were essentially promised to one another. The line between platonic cuddling and _cuddling_ would become blurred very quickly, and the two of them knew that all too well.

Heat blossomed across Val’s chest and she smiled, nodding. “No, please… I was just beginning to bed down.”

Together, the courting pair turned the bed down. Luca climbed in first, drawing the blankets up over his legs as Valentyne followed, cuddling up close to his side, her head on his chest while his arm curled around her. His thumb rubbed lazy shapes along her skin and she brushed his chest hair with her fingertips, giggling softly when he tried to swat her hand away. 

“Val, look up at the stars,” Luca said suddenly, voice tight.

The room grew bright as a large, ivory white star drove across the sky. “It’s _falling_ ,” Val whispered, eyes wide.

She had never seen a falling star before.

“Make a wish, and hold it close to your heart.” Luca murmured into her hair, his grip tightening on her. Val closed her eyes, wordlessly muttering her wish to the falling orb above them. The warmth and light the star had brought into her hut-like room began to fade fast, and soon the silvery, milky light of the moon was all that was left.

Val must have started to doze off, because Luca gently nudged her. “So? What did you wish for?”

She yawned, laughing softly. “I can’t tell you. It won’t come true if I do.” She batted her eyes, looking up through her eyelashes at him. “What about you, Luca? What did you wish for?”

He gave her a gentle squeeze, resting his cheek on the top of her head. Luca chewed on it for a minute, waiting until Valentyne’s breathing steadied out and her eyes had fluttered closed. “Everything I’ve ever wanted is all right here in Astera… all right here in my arms. What else could I have possibly wished for?”


	2. ii/ii

“What?” Val echoed dumbly, staring up at Luca.

He was grinning like a child on their birthday. “We’re going on vacation.”

The white-haired Hunter narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend, noticing without fail that the Canteen was still packed, no one was watching them from the corner of their eyes. It wasn’t some prank, some ‘ _gotcha!_ ’ action that Wren cooked up in the midst of his last week on medical leave. He had become a master with pranks, often catching Valentyne at exactly the right moment for each one. It was growing tiresome, especially considering the Commander had been giving other Hunters more work than her.

_Now_ she understood why.

“Vacation? Where?” Val laughed, spreading her arms. Her personal trek around Astera was very limited, having only gone to the Wildspire Waste and back… once before. “The Ancient Forest? The Wildspire Waste?”

“Beyond that, just before the Coral Highlands. I heard the falling star landed there.”

It had been about two weeks since Luca and Valentyne slept in bed together, and had wished upon a falling star. She flushed, remembering how she had slept soundly, how Luca had woken her up sometime in the afternoon with sweet gentle kisses to her cheek and temple. Then he disappeared, and she didn’t see him until well into the evening.

Val gave him a look, narrowing her eyes. “Did the Commander sign off on this?”

“It was his idea,” Luca revealed, the same bright grin on his face. “‘ _Take some time off, Luca. Take that girl of yours, too. She could use the break_ ’.” He imitated his grandfather, spooking a couple of the Hunters at the table to Val’s far right. She laughed, covering her mouth with her hand, shaking her head at her boyfriend. He did a spot-on impression of the Commander, who was only a touch gruffer when he spoke. Luca moved to sit at the table, plucking a rolled up vine leaf from her plate to pop it into his mouth. “We can pack up and leave in the morning.” Somehow he managed to say it around a mouthful of the leaf.

“What should I pack? How long will this take us?” Val asked, edging her plate away from him as he tried to pick another rolled leaf off of it.

Luca frowned, nudging her elbow. “I’m _starved_ , Val…”

“Then answer me and you can finish my platter, I’m done anyway.” She was quick to strike a bargain, one that would work in her favour.

The Field Leader heaved a dramatic sigh, but the cheerful grin quickly returned. “It’s about a three-day walk, once we pass the Wildspire Waste and go just a few more clicks, we’ll be there.”

“Where’s ‘there’, Luca? There’s _nothing_ between the Waste and the Highlands.” Val said, pushing her plate over to her boyfriend. The general chatter of the Canteen was beginning to teeter off, with some Hunters heading down to the baths and others simply talking less loudly. You could never really have a properly private conversation anywhere in Astera, there were always ears around and while it was nice to know your fellow Hunters had your back, it was hard not to form some sort of distrust with all of them.

They were all eavesdroppers, the lot of them.

Luca had quickly polished off the tiny rack of ribs Val pointedly ignored before he scrunched his nose up. “That’s exactly the point. There’s nothing there. No recorded Monsters, no notable migration patterns… just you, me and the fallen star.”

It clicked, and Val’s mouth opened in a slight gasp. Luca laughed, shaking his head before he leaned over the platter, and kissed the corner of her open mouth. “Tomorrow morning, pack up and we’ll take off from sunrise.” He said, and moved to stand. Val moved to follow but froze when she saw Wren - arm officially out of his sling, but his wrist remained wrapped in a thin cast - and then cast her gaze back to her boyfriend. “Luca?”

“Yeah?”

“...Does Wren know?”

Luca smiled and leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. Her love of her cousin was something he had learned a long time ago not to be jealous of. “Yes, Wren knows.” He turned to start walking once again, but then stopped and looked back at her. “He’ll help you pack, I’m sure of it.” Without another word, he returned to the task at hand: preparing his things to get going in the morning.

Val poked at her platter before she pushed it away and made to move, standing up from her seat and stretching.

“Val!” Came Wren’s shout and the white-haired Hunter turned to face her incoming cousin, smiling happily. He had moaned and complained about not getting a chance back into the field, and with it being the beginning of the wet season, hunts for bigger monsters were driven down thanks to the rains keeping them away from Astera and its grounds. “Dang, I missed Luca, didn’t I?” He asked, half-panting, grabbing Val’s upper arm with his good hand to steady himself. His ribs had set, but his wrist was being a little more difficult, and the pink-haired Hunter wasn’t helping, trying to help out around the Tradeyard after being told specifically to rest it.

“Yeah, you did,” Val said before she gently tugged Wren. “Want to walk with me to my room?”

“Oh, yeah! Definitely!”

The two cousins walked arm in arm from the Canteen, talking about other Hunters, about their armour and the upgrades they were saving for. Typical conversation. All around them, Astera hummed with the settling down of nightfall. Hunters soaked in the baths, their conversations drifting up in broken fragments. The Smithy and his crew broke down materials and banged out new weapons. Brona and her provisions team murmured, and of course, the Commander toured the entire Tradeyard before going to the gate to call down the evening sentries.

“So did Luca fill you in?’ Wren asked once they had ducked into Val’s room. He moved swiftly, going over to her travel trunk and pulled it single-handedly into the middle of the room. He continued to spend every other night in the Botanist’s medical bay, just to keep an eye on his healing ribs. He sat on the end of her bed, one hand stroking the heavy furs she had taken out to battle the damp in the mornings. “I wish someone was taking me out of Astera for a few days, honestly.”

Val nodded, smiling, unable to stop the blush that spread along her cheeks. “He’s taking me to find the fallen star.”

“Romantic!” Wren cajoled, laughing as Val scowled.

The female Hunter twisted a lock of hair between her fingers, the corner of her mouth dipping down slightly. “It’s _romantic_ , but … we’re going to be alone in an area I’m not familiar with! Without Ransom, without Eden without-”

“Without me?” He offered, raising an eyebrow. Val nodded.

He paused, huffed, and then shook his head. “You can live your _own_ life, Valentyne!” He met her gaze, raising an eyebrow. “I love hunting with you, but we’re both adults. We’re both capable of living separate, different lives from one another.”

“Are you trying to _get rid of me_ , Wren?” Val asked, the tone light even if she couldn’t keep her face straight.

“Absolutely, _kasagi_.”

Wren barely ducked the thrown pillow in time.

* * *

Valentyne wasn’t sure when she fell asleep, but she was roused awake far too soon for her tastes. “No, please… just a few more minutes,” Val groggily moaned, pulling the fur that had been tugged down her torso back up.

Luca chuckled above her. “C’mon love. Let’s get up and tend to the Moofah, and then we can go.”

Moofah? Go? _Go where_?

Then it all came rushing back. Val opened her eyes, blinking back against the warm glow from Luca’s scoutflies, yawning as her boyfriend stepped back. He looked so different without his Great Sword tacked to his back. Instead, he wore a slimmer, shorter version of the Anjanath jaw buster style sword. “You look good,” Valentyne murmured, mouth dry.

“You look beautiful too,” Luca said with adoration in his voice. “But we have to get going if we want to make it there before we lose it forever.”

The fallen star.

“I just need five minutes, my trunk is outside,” Val hummed, stretching luxuriously in her bed and Luca nodded, disappearing into the Tradeyard once again. It wasn’t like Astera was busy; sure a couple of new Hunters idled around for their Handlers to come back with jobs to do, but beyond that, it was just another normal day for Astera born and raised Luca. The minute Val emerged from her room, the Field Leader was at her side, fingers finding the exposed small of her back through her crop-top like shirt. 

“You should probably have a cloak or shawl, I heard the Waste gets pretty chilly at night.” He told her with a smile. Val motioned to the long trail of fabric she held, swinging it over her shoulder. He grinned, kissed her cheek, and ran off ahead to alert the sentries that they were leaving. Val stopped, speaking quickly to Brona about anything she may need for the journey to prevent muscle cramps and aches. By the time she caught up with Luca and the Moofahs, she had a new pack slung over her shoulder. They were travelling relatively light, considering what they were bringing.

The Commander came over, patting a Moofah on the flank. “Weapons packed? Sharpened? Extra whetstones in case they’re lost in travel or broken?” He asked, and both his Hunters nodded. “Make sure you break down your camp well enough each and every morning you travel. You don’t know what out there remembers your scent.” He sent a look at Valentyne, who winced at the comment. 

“Be careful. The scout flies have memorized the Moofah’s scent, so if any trouble arises, we can find you.” Val noticed that the Commander was looking - and talking - directly at Luca, who nodded. “We’ll be extra careful.”

Extra careful indeed.

Once they were on their way, Valentyne and Luca talked. They talked about everything, things they couldn’t really discuss openly at the Canteen with ears all around them.

Luca really liked eating pink parexus with a jelly made from dull orange citrus.

Valentyne used to think stars would only come out after a rainstorm; Luca was the first one to tell her that the stars were always out, rainstorm or not.

Somehow they managed to travel a fair distance before their Moofah’s started panting. The sun had crested and begun to set, and Luca was pleased with the distance they had made. He hopped off the back of the large llama-like creature, walking over to help Val down too. He winced as he helped her down, and Val dug into the small bag slung on her back for the salve Brona had created for them. ‘ _Just a finger’s worth of the grease_ ,’ Brona explained in the Tradeyard. ‘ _Rub it into the affected muscle, and give it fifteen minutes. The ache and pain will be removed._ ’

“What’s that?’ The brunet asked as the white-haired hunter approached him. He stepped back, constantly wary of the things Brona and the Botanist cooked up for the betterment of the Hunters. “Val?”

“Just some salve Brona made for travelling.” She said and motioned to him. “Take your armour off, we’re setting up for the night, and you can’t sleep with pain in your back.” When Luca simply looked at her, with that same wary look, Val raised an eyebrow. “I asked her to make this for this exact reason, Luca. Please?” He shouldered his armour off gingerly, and Val smiled as she got to apply it to his strong, muscled back.

Soon enough, the sun had fully set and the courting couple sat close together, eating what looked like a small sheet of dried Anjanath jerky, with what looked like Blissbill roasting over the open fire. Behind them, their camp was set up, but their cots were still strapped to the side of the grazing Moofahs. Luca leaned back on his hands, having finished his jerky, giving his girlfriend a soft nudge with an elbow. “What’s that one? Did you see that one in the Old World?” He pointed up to a collection of stars, blinking against the black sky.

“Yeah, I think so,” Val answered, stifling a yawn behind her hand. “Uh, at least the tail end of it anyways. We called it the Pilot Hare’s foot.”

Luca chuckled, a hand finding her back, knuckles rubbing in at the base of her spine. “It’s just the Hare’s foot here.”

Val smiled, leaning to rest her head on his shoulder. The entire world was silent around them, the soft crackling embers of the fire combined with the quiet grazing of the Moofahs created an atmosphere that Val was positive she would never forget. There was no need to worry about something creeping up on them, there was no worry about waking up to find Luca gone. It was just them, arm in arm, against the New World. 

Luca pressed a kiss to her head. “Let’s get our cots.”

“Alright.”

Luca stood up first and helped Valentyne to her feet. She could carry both of them to their camp, no problem. They were lightweight and able to be broken down easily in case they had an emergency.

When she got to the Moofah, she realized two things: there was only one cot strapped to its side, which meant she would have to share with Luca, unless she decided to sleep on the floor.

“Luca?”

“Yeah?” He called, the small fire hissing as he dumped water onto it. He stomped out the remaining dying embers, looking over at her back, narrowing his eyes slightly. “Love?”

“...We only have one cot.”

“What?”

Before long, the two of them were travelling by the light of the white scout flies, going a few miles back to see if maybe it had gotten dislodged on the ride in. When they couldn’t find it, and the moon was high in the sky, they returned to camp. “I must have knocked it off, or something. Maybe back over that hill?” Valentyne said, as she dismounted the creature and hastily tied it up with Luca’s. “I can bundle up the cape and the fur and sleep on the floor-”

“Val, no.” Whether it was the long day of riding or what, Luca looked exhausted as his scout flies returned to him. “C’mon, the cot’s big enough for both of us.”

“But…-”

“No buts. C’mon. It’s late, we have an early - and long - day tomorrow.”

Val watched as Luca ducked under the canvas flap, taking the single cot with him. She followed and started to take her lightweight armour off, propping it against the side of the tent. She and Luca shed their travel clothes and got into something more comfortable, lining the cot first with her cape, then with one of the fur blankets they had brought. 

“I’m exhausted,” Luca groaned, climbing in first. He stretched out, keeping the blanket to the side as he looked at Val. “Come on in, Val. I promise there’s room.”

She blushed, smiling, realizing that she couldn’t _wait_ to get into bed with the Field Leader. They were on vacation… it wasn’t like they were really breaking any rules. Besides, what the Commander didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him.

Val got into bed with Luca, cuddling up close to his side, slinging a leg over his as she draped an arm around his torso. The retired Hunter hummed, already dozing, as he slipped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer.

Both of Astera’s (near) finest slept peacefully, tuckered out and snuggled up in one another.

**Author's Note:**

> I've also created a Tumblr to answer questions, post teasers of what I'm working on, etc. Please feel free to check it out.
> 
> https://sagamohr.tumblr.com/


End file.
